


Forward [Cheater!Levi]

by Alyss_Baskerville



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cheater!Levi, F/M, YOLO, it's outdated but whatever, unoriginal as hell because how many cheater!Levi stories are there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 07:26:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16593470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyss_Baskerville/pseuds/Alyss_Baskerville
Summary: In the end, we can only make a new beginning.





	Forward [Cheater!Levi]

[Name] smiled eagerly as she awaited her fiancee's arrival. Her gaze fell to the wedding ring he'd presented her with just barely a week ago, giggling to herself as she remembered what a nervous wreck he'd been, proposing to her. In the [hair color]-haired woman's eyes, it only made him more adorable.

Tonight she'd gone to the trouble of doing a shit load of shopping in order to make Levi's favorite dishes whilst he was away at work. It had cost time, effort, and much frustration on [Name]'s part, but the end result was satisfying - a heap of her fiancee's favored delicacies, all laid neatly out on their dinner table.

[Name] checked the clock in the living room and her giddiness rose again. There were only seven minutes left until Levi arrived home. Trying to smother her smile as to not give away the surprise when he did arrive, she sat down on the couch and took deep breaths to regain her composure.

Just as she'd managed to wipe the silly beam off her face, [Name]'s phone vibrated in her hand, indicating that she'd received a text. Opening it, her [eye color] orbs scanned the screen and the bright excitement in them faded to a look of resigned disappointment.

_Oi brat, I've got extra work today and won't be back until 10 at night. See you then._

_\- Levi_

_Oh..._ [Name] thought dejectedly, though she couldn't say that she was particularly surprised. He'd been pulling shenanigans like this lately, staring roughly a month and a half ago, and it prompted her wonder if the company was on the verge of a crisis. Why else would Levi be forced to work so late and often?

As the narrator, I must say, poor [Name]. She was such a naive woman back then, unaware of the cruel torment this world is capable of. 

Glancing at the fresh dinner that would be left to turn cold, the young woman sighed and began to tidy everything up, putting what she'd made in the fridge for later, although they wouldn't be nearly as scrumptious when Levi arrived home to have them. After getting everything under order, she resolved to have some coffee at the cafe that her fiancee was fond of taking her when he had time off of work. 

Changing into more appropriate clothes, [Name] threw on a denim jacket over it all, grasped her keys in her slender hand, revved the engine, and drove off to said cafe. The journey took roughly ten minutes.

Once she had arrived, [Name] stepped out of her car, smiling fondly at the small building she'd parked in front of. This place had many sweet and tender memories with her fiancee for the [hair color]-haired woman, and merely being here made her feel at ease, as if Levi's very presence had soaked into these walls. 

The light from inside the cafe, courtesy of the large side windows, allowed [Name] a clear view of the sidewalk she had to traverse in order to reach the door. The young woman made her way down it, discreetly observing the other people sitting at the cafe tables.

She then froze.

It was Levi, smiling devilishly with a flirtatious glint in his gray eyes. Sitting across from him  wearing a charming beam was a beautiful young [woman](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5b/b9/cd/5bb9cd8582ceedf2d104253cbe80ec9a--manga-girl-drawing-anime-art-girl.jpg) with long, straight dark hair that possessed subtle streaks of ginger. Her eyes were deep brown, like two pools of hot chocolate, her skin was flawlessly porcelain, and she had a delicate, slender figure. [Name] didn't fail to notice the fact that his hand rested seductively on her thigh as they conversed. 

Everything clicked into place in that moment, and what a horrible, world-shaking moment it was for [Name] [Last Name].

Levi's claims that work was keeping him. 

His countless excuses for her questioning of why he was being forced to work so late. 

Even the bits of money that were being extracted from their bank account.

It all made sense. 

[Name] didn't know what sort of feeling she had been expecting when seeing Levi's amorous gaze on another woman. They were having an affair. 

She'd never imagined the pain would be quite this penetrating, however. It was as if the entire foundation, the very ground upon which she'd built herself, not just her life, but her as a  _person,_ a human being, was crumbling under her feet, leaving her falling into an endless abyss of darkness. It was as if the world had done a three-sixty around her, and now up was down, and down was up. 

She felt as if she'd been stabbed in the heart with a blade of utter poison and shoved off the highest mountain peak in the world, then shoved under the surface of the Arctic Ocean. In her utter denial and disbelief, [Name] didn't even realize that she was beginning to cry. Had someone informed her that it was possible for this amount of pain to exist, total, in the entire universe, she wouldn't have believed them. 

The sight of Levi and that whore was like needles sinking into her eyes, digging deeper and deeper and drawing more crimson red blood. Unable to stomach the sight, [Name] spun on her heel - brain reeling, breath coming in short, strangled gasps, chest tight - and stumbled back towards her car. 

She mindlessly drove away, narrowly avoiding two wrecks on the return home. Honestly, she wasn't sure she would have minded if she  _had_ truly gotten in a car accident.

Reaching the house, bitterness flooded [Name]'s mouth, nearly making her retch in disgust as she recalled all that she'd done with Levi in this very place. She remembered his words of how much he loved her, that no one, nothing, could even come close to taking her place in his heart. The beautiful engagement ring he'd bought her now felt as if it was burning against her slender ring finger. 

How many rings of false, bullshit promises had Levi bought? How many women had he wooed and proposed to, only to toy with their emotions and then break their souls, the way he had with [Name]? She didn't want to consider it. The thought made her sick to her core. 

She couldn't believe she'd allowed such a duplicitous, scumbag of a man to capture her heart. She couldn't believe she'd been intimate with him, and she couldn't believed that she could ever have put her trust in his empty, meaningless words. 

Storming into the house, [Name] took her clothes, makeup, accessories, books, anything of value that was hers, but something caught her eye - it was a picture of herself and Levi during their first date, two years ago. They were standing in front of a beautiful sunset, his lean arm around her shoulders, faces bright with genuine smiles of delight. The frame that held the picture was made of rare material and delicately carved into perfection. According to Levi, it was one of the most treasured moments of his life.  _"I knew then, brat, that I loved you."_ he'd said.

_"Lies!"_ [Name] screamed. Grabbing the photograph that had once been so dear to her heart, she threw it down on the wooden floor with all her might. The glass encasing the moment cracked, its jagged shard slicing into the paper and blemishing the beaming faces. 

The woman didn't stop there. Her wrath and feelings of betrayal were far too intense to allow her to stop with such unsatisfactory results. She rampaged down the halls, ripping and tearing every photograph of herself and Levi that had ever existed. Tables were flipped. Levi's clothes were strewn on the floor, and some of them were even torn viciously apart. 

As another token of her spite, [Name] destroyed the meal she'd so painstakingly, so lovingly cooked for Levi just a few hours ago. The plates and bowls the delicacies had rested upon were now nothing more than shards of glass littered on the floor, and the food itself was burned intentionally, stomped on, and ruined. 

And for good measure, she scrawled a messily written note on Levi's desk, slamming her engagement wring down next to it. The letter read two words, only two words.

_Fuck you._

Then she gathered her belongings and crammed them in the car, preparing to leave this house full of lies and betrayal and pain - to start a new life and forget about the man whom she'd willingly allowed to break her heart.

* * *

It started a month and a half ago. 

Levi still wasn't quite sure what the fuck he was doing with his life as he bid farewell to his mistress and watched her leave the cafe. The woman smiled in an amorous manner at him, fluttered her fingers in a wave, and left. 

She was what [Name] had been before their engagement, and it was what attracted Levi.

He'd treasured the [hair color]-haired woman's determined, independent spirit and sharp tongue. Though not outright rude, she had no doubt been tough as nails, adamant and unwavering in her declaration that she was going to forge her own path, and that she could take care of herself perfectly well without anyone else's assistance. Her individualistic character had certainly been quite the appeal to the raven-haired man. [Name] was a puzzle in her fierce and burning nature, a puzzle that Levi gladly would have spent the rest of his life attempting to solve.

But that had changed after he'd proposed to her. 

Where had the self-governing, resolute, challenging enigma called [Name] [Last Name] gone? She'd been replaced by an obedient, faithful, and, if he was to be completely honest,  _boring_ , reverberation of who he'd thought she was. Her fire, her spark, her sass had all fizzled out, fading into the [Name] she was at this very moment. She was too docile, too servile, too...dull. She cooked his meals faithfully, cleaned the house promptly, watered the garden dutifully.

Why was it always, "Yes Levi", "Of course, Levi", and "Sure thing, Levi" every single fucking time now? What had happened to, "What do you know?" or "Who do you think you are?" or even the ever-so-eloquent "Fuck off" that had seemed so ridiculously endearing to the raven-haired man when coming from [Name]'s lips? 

It was monotonous to him. 

And in an attempt to forget his troubles, he'd given [Name] the excuse that he had to work an irregular shift and instead indulged himself at the bar, where he met Embrya _[A/N: If your name is Embrya, though I tried to select a rare name, insert any other name you'd like]_. That sharp tongue, that fiery wit - it had been reminiscent to the early days of his relationship with [Name]. As an added bonus, there was no denying that she was attractive as hell, though in Levi's personal opinion, his fiancee was even more beautiful. 

By day he would continue his affair with his mistress, their relationship becoming increasingly intimate. At this point, Levi had already bedded her several times. 

By night, he would return to his unsuspecting, naive, blindly loyal fiancee. Levi hated to admit it, but the feeling of having [Name] at his beck and call while he was simultaneously betraying her in one of the most sinful ways possible provided him with a rush of elation. It delighted him in a sick and primal way that he had such control over another human being. [Name]'s unquestioning faith in him almost caused a rush of pity to sweep into his pores when his eyes met with those deep [eye color] hues.

It was electrifying in a delicious way, the fact that he held the strings of [Name]'s heart in his own two hands.

He was a man that thrived on living dangerously. The last kind of life he wanted to live was a mundane one, and he was certain that if he stayed loyal to [Name], he would endure an existence of that sort. 

Ah, if only Levi had known what it would cost him. I doubt he would ever have cheated on [Name]. 

The traitorous ravenette at long last returned to his rightful home, back to his utterly oblivious, practically pathetically loyal fiancee.

As he stepped out of his car, the petite [hair color]-haired woman stormed out of the house and to her own vehicle. He couldn't yet see her face and was unaware of how tumultuous her emotions were at that point. However, he did notice the suitcase that she was dragging behind her forcefully, and confusion rose in him. Stopping [Name] at the car, Levi asked, "What are you doing, brat?"

Yes, he was completely taken aback at her response.

"Fuck you." she spat acrimoniously, hissing out the words like a cat backed into a corner, ready to fight for its life. From that moment, Levi knew she was aware of his sinful trysts, but he didn't want to accept it. He didn't want to believe it. And thus, his brain scrabbled for an unneeded, unnecessary apology - an empty apology.

"I know I haven't been able to spend time around you lately, and I'm sorry - "

"Sorry, are you?" [Name] sneered. Her voice rose in volume until she was snarling, though not quite to the level of screaming. "You know, Levi, I used to think that monsters didn't exist and were just bullshit that adults came up with to scare their children into being good. But guess what? Congratulations, you've fucking proved me wrong. You, Levi Ackerman, are one of the most vile, most despicable, most fucked up monsters that I've ever had the displeasure of beholding in my entire life." The expression twisting her visage, not to mention the words of ice that she spoke, was something that tore through Levi's chest, exposing his vulnerable, beating heart. But she didn't stop there. The young woman was far from done.

"Tell me,  _honey,_ who was the bitch that you were having dinner with at the cafe, sitting in the same seat that  _we_ usually sit in?"

At this point, Levi was aware it was too late. He was aware that [Name] was no longer blind to his infidelity. He knew that any excuse he might come up with would ultimately amount to nothing. Even so, he foolishly blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Perhaps it was desperation. Or perhaps it was panic. I will leave such trivial notions up to you.

"A coworker."

"Is that so?" the [eye color] orbs of [Name] practically spat a cobra's venom at Levi as she glared hatefully at him, face full of loathing and disgust. "Well then, I guess I must have imagined your hand on her shapely ass thigh, huh? Don't you even  _try_ to justify this!" she snapped as Levi opened his mouth.

To this day, I wonder if this puppet show would have been acted out differently had Levi attempted to make his apology sound more...sincere and less rigid.

"Look, I'm fucking sorry - "

_"Don't. You. Dare."_ [Name] hissed. "Don't you ever say  _I'm sorry_ to me again, because I know it'll be a lie, and I've already had you bullshit me enough for more than a lifetime. You can take your apology, you piece of shit, and shove it up your ass. If I ever wanted to commit suicide, asshole, I'd climb your ego and jump down to your IQ." 

Levi was reduced to gaping at his fiancee, completely shocked at the loathing in her tone. He had never heard such bitterness from the [hair color]-haired woman, and he'd been an idiot enough to believe she didn't have it in her. This very night shattered that illusion, because [Name] [Last Name] certainly had far more venom inside her than Levi Ackerman could have comprehended. 

"I don't know if you've slept with that whore, but I have my serious doubts that I'm the first woman you've had sex with, and I sure as hell won't be the last. Have fun prostituting yourself out to the sluts of the world, Levi. I hope you're happy when you get herpes and die, you absolute motherfucker."

With those words, [Name] turned her back on Levi forever, yanked the door of her car open and shoved her suitcase inside, not even bothering to gauge his reaction. She slammed it with a resounding  _thud_ and started the engine. By the time Levi had regained his wits and was begging her to stay, spluttering apologies that were as meaningless as no apologies at all, the car and its headlights were vanishing into the darkness.

Somehow, after what seemed like an eternity of staring after the vehicle, half-expecting it to show up again any moment, Levi found the will to drag himself to his feet and enter the house. What he saw rendered him speechless once again. [Name] had always cleaned and tended to this place so lovingly.

Clearly she'd trashed it just as hatefully. 

The days following that were nothing but a blur of emptiness for Levi. He mindlessly milled about, ignoring the mess [Name] had made, not having the heart to clean it. He simply lay in bed, unable to sleep, unable to eat, staring blankly up at the ceiling and only getting up to do his restroom business, have a sip of water, or text and attempt to call [Name], trying to tell her how fucking sorry he was. She never answered his texts and she never picked up his calls. 

Levi hardly even remembered cleaning the house - without [Name], he felt like an empty shell. The raven-haired man continued his daily life, working just as diligently on his job as ever, but all of his actions were executed with the same mindlessness that had dominated him in [Name]'s absence. He ensured to cease all connection with Embrya, though it was too late. 

Life went on around him, but Levi felt every disconnected from it.

The phone in his hand produced the signature beeping noises as he dialed [Name]'s number. He could have easily just used his contacts list, but inputting [Name]'s number on his phone somehow felt like the final connection he had to her - something so trivial and so pathetic yet so dear that Levi would have laughed at the state he was in now had he possessed the energy or will.

Hesitantly, he typed the final number and brought the device to his ear, listening to the ringing with trepidation.

"Hello?"

It was her voice. He hadn't heard it in God knew how long, and the sound made his throat close with emotion. "[Name]..." he rasped, startled at the rusted quality of his own voice. It sounded as if he hadn't used it in years.

There was brief hesitation on the other end before the woman politely asked, "I'm sorry, do I know you?" 

Levi never thought those words could hurt so much, but they seemed to stab through the skin on his chest, his ribcage, and whatever lay between it and his heart, embedding themselves into the frail organ, chipping away at his will to live, to exist, a little bit more. "It's me, Levi." he croaked.

Another silence followed on the other end of the line before [Name] stated, voice far colder than before, "Oh, Levi. What do you want?"

"I...I'm sorry, [Name]. I'm so fucking sorry. I love you, I really do. If you could just - "

"[Name]? Who is that?" another man's voice from the other end of the line reached Levi's ears, and his gray eyes, now void of any sparkle or light, widened infinitesimally. 

"Oh hey, Erwin." [Name] responded. "This is an old acquaintance of mine."

The apathy in which she spoke of him nearly caused Levi to break down as he realized how much he'd fucked up. The tone of utter adoration and love that [Name] used to address him using would never be directed at him again. He could clearly hear that whatever feelings she'd had for him had vanished in the light of the love she felt towards this new man, this Erwin.

"Alright." Erwin replied, tenderness dancing in his deep voice as he spoke to [Name]. "Just don't take too long, sweetheart. You know I plan to take you and the kids out to dinner tonight. It's a special occasion, after all."

"Sure thing, darling." [Name] stated, twisting the knives in Levi's soul more still. He hadn't though it was possible for any more pain to burden his shoulder, but evidently, he'd been dead wrong.

"Mommy, Mommy, I'm hungry!" a childish voice called, quite muffled through the connection Levi and [Name] were using. The woman laughed and chidingly called, "I'll be right there, Eren!"

"Okay, Mommy!"

Erwin chuckled. "I better go calm him down, sweetheart." he said tenderly. "That is, if Mikasa isn't already on the job. I love you, [Name]."

"I love you too, Erwin. Run along." [Name] laughed. There was another temporary pause before she returned to addressing Levi again, pity evident in her voice. "Listen, Levi. Whatever feelings I had for you in the past, they're all gone now." Before Levi could comprehend the double meaning behind those words, she continued. "I don't love you anymore, but I don't despise you anymore either. If you had never been unfaithful, then I never would have met Erwin and we never would have gotten the opportunity to live the life we're living today. I'm perfectly content with where I am right now."

"[Name] - "

"It's been seven years, Levi. I resolved to move forward the second I left that driveway of the house we shared. And I've kept my vow. I've moved on, and I thought you would have done the same. Have you and the woman you were with been able to settle down?" There was no malice or spite in her tone, merely genuine curiosity. 

It only tortured Levi further. 

"[Name], you know I could never love any other woman." 

"Mommy!" Eren whined again. [Name] called, "Just hold on a bit longer, honey! Levi, I'm going to tell you here and now that I no longer love you. I have a family now, and a husband that takes good care of me and our children. And I'd advise you to move forward, just as I have."

"[Name] - "

"I have to go, Levi. Take care and goodbye."

She hung up. 

In his own house, Levi didn't move, the phone still held to his ear, the lull of static reverberating in his cranium as he fully came to terms with what [Name] had just told him. She had no feelings toward him anymore, negative or positive. She had moved on, she had risen above the inner pain he'd caused her and had managed to find her own sanctuary, her own happiness.

If only he ever could.

_"I no longer love you."_

_"Move forward."_

_"Take care and goodbye."_

Then the tears came in earnest, drowning out everything else.


End file.
